( I hold your promise in my hands )

[The feed flares to life, and there's a blue mare familiar to many smiling at the scroll. That was normal. What wasn't was the fact that she had bruises across her torso, bandages on the upper part of her forelimbs from where the diamond had torn into her, and a small bandage on her face. Despite all of that, though, the smile is genuine, if a bit sheepish.]

Well, that sure was somethin'. Ah'm sorry Ah haven't said nothin' after that earthquake, but the doctor said Ah need to rest, an' Mae's...kinda been makin' me keep to that.

[And in the background in their cottage, the elf!pony throws her head back in mild frustration with a grimace. Someone's been needing to mother Neph, and Neph is stubborn as a mule at times, both in a good and in a bad way.] Yes, you need to rest! You do not need to have joint aches at your age! You are far too young for such things!

[Distracted, Nephenee turns to her, looking perturbed.] But Mae, Ah was lookin' for the E-

No 'But Mae'ing me! You are the one who is my sister, and therefore more important! If I have to tie you up, I shall!

T-that ain't necessary... [And then Neph remembered OH YEAH the feed's on, and turns back, blushing from that, and cowed. She has no doubt her sister will follow through with those words.] S-sorry 'bout that. Ahem, anyway, Ah'm mostly alright...an' finally awake. [because she halved the pain meds, so she can actually function, if with a bit of pain.] So Ah can have visitors now...

On that note, Ah wanted see how everypony was doin' that was in the right branch with me, since Ah know there were more injuries 'sides myself. Miss Fluttershy, Miss Flare Star, Miss Patchouli, Bertie, Sir Andrew, Sir Pierrot, are y'all alright? [She knows about Arcee, she just saw her, after all.]

[Her face becomes a little sad as well, since she...needs to make the announcement. She does have to center and channel her battle mindset to steel herself, so her speech changes slightly.]

Also...for those of ya who don't know, Empress Sanaki Kirsch Altina of Begnion has been returned to our homeland of Tellius. My thanks to all who not only helped protect her, but also were her friend. [Back to being the lone Tellisian here.] As for her chores at the Commune, Ah will take them on as Ah recover until they can be divided.

Thank ya all.

[And the visual cuts to black.]

( To Spark )

*Alastor is in his castle, but for once, there's more light than his floating orbs of electricity. He's holding a mug of some sort of hot brown liquid, with a tin labelled Pheromone Coffee sitting on a floating cloud table next to him. Off to the side a fire crackles merrily under a metal grill with a pot of water on it and...wait, is that a pile of film burning? It sure looks like it.*

A little suggestion: don't watch anything you find in the dungeon without asking around a bit first. Some of the stuff in there is so awful it might give you brain damage.

*He takes a sip from his mug, then looks back at the scroll.*

Speaking of asking about things in the dungeons, does anyone know what Pheromone Coffee is?

(No, he is not actually drinking the coffee. Not that there's any way of telling just by looking.)

[Just a normal day in Ponyville. Minus the impending rampage that's about to happen a few hours later. When suddenly pinpricks of light converge into the middle of Ponyville. Ponies back away realizing a new arrival is returning, when suddenly the rainbows implode on themselves, forming into a brown stallion in a gray pinstripe suit with very odd accessories decorating him. If the patterned flame tie wasn't weird, or the bad boy bracelets or the red flame top shoes cut for ponies, it was the fact that he had a large pompadour.

And he looked a little disoriented for the given moment as he shook his head.]

Whoa! That was a rush. Oh wait, back here again? Really? After five years you pull me back?

[Turning to the scroll he thudded his chest and pointed at it.] Hey everypony I'm back! For those who don't know me, I'm Gentarou Kisaragi, Teacher at Ama High and I'm going to befriend the hell out of Equestria!

AGAIN!

... I wonder if Derpy's kicked me out by now... it's got to have been a long time since I left.

[So. There's a Fluffle Puff.

Seemingly doing nothing. Nothing at all in particular.

And then suddenly, a hoof erupts from the depths of her fur as Gentarou emerges from the depths with a loud gasp.]

Wow! That was crazy! What an adventure! I didn't think I would make more friends in there!

[Carefully he climbed out of Fluffle Puff with a wide grin, reaching back in and fishing out the Fourze driver and his scroll.]

Ah there they are. Great. See you later, I'll bring tacos next time!

[Care to explain to the Rider Pony just what he missed?]

[For those who saw Andrew's post, they'd recognize the room as one of the ones at the local hospital, but they may not have heard a certain farm pony was there. Well, she is, a bit sheepish looking as well. But she's smiling. Morale boost speech is go?]

Hey folks, just wanted to thank everypony who helped out with the Changelings, no matter what ya did! Y'all did great, and from what Ah hear, things are nice an' settled! So, as a small token of thanks, ah wanted to extend an invitation to call on me for tea or coffee sometime to everypony. Ah think we all could use the relaxation, ya know?

[She leans forward to adjust the scroll a bit, then, feeling the IV in her leg move, frowns, as she remembers where she is.]

Although..Ah suppose it'll have to wait til Ah heal up a bit. Ah'm alright, honest, just a broke rib, nothin' big.

[Because broken ribs are nothing, right?]

Um, i-if somepony wants to visit, they can. Jus' lemme know so Ah know to expect ya.

[Please somepony visit her, even this shy pony's going a mite mad in this place.

OOC: Her hospital log post is here, for visiting times?]

  [Shortly after one Queen Chrysalis 'graces' the journals with her visage, and a Pinkie Pie shoots off her message from the inside of a cocoon, an urgent visual message appears on the journals. One blue mare in armor and deep blue cloak can be seen with a few downed changelings behind her, and unlike normal, her countenance is anything but cheery, or even anxious. After checking to make sure the message is going out, she starts, her voice intense and determined. Have one relentless battlemaiden, Ponyville.]

Attention! This is Nephenee of Crimea, bringin' news from the battlefield!

Y'all just heard Pinkie and Chrysalis, right? Them Changelin's got a bunch of our friends, and they're sappin' 'em. We need to get rid of this threat, an' fast! We can't kill 'em, they're innocents, but we can knock 'em out, rescue our friends, and hold her 'til Princess Celestia gets here! But Ah can't do none of this by myself, so Ah ask to see who will help rescue and-or take out this so called 'Queen'! 

[Another changeling charges her, and she hangs the scroll in midair long enough to spinkick it off screen,]

Please contact me as soon as y'all can! We need folks for that an' we need folks who know a strategy for beatin' these jerks! Any help will be appreciated!

[In short, reconnaissance and fighters, and a battle plan beyond that.]

To those captured, help is on the way as soon as we can! Don't lose hope!

[She quickly ends the feed as more charge. Dang, are these things everywhere?!]

[As for those nearby, the Sentinel is fighting off a bunch of these things by herself, but with their sapping, she probably could use some assistance.]

( Private to Celestia )[After talking to Celestia:]

Does anypony here know binding magic?!

[Hope you love terrible beatboxing everyone, because that's what it sounds like is coming through the scroll right now as a piece of cardboard is rapidly pushed towards and back from the scroll. On it in orange marker the words "JAPPLEACK SEZ" have been messily written, along with a drawing of an apple. After a few seconds of this pathetic display Jappleack finally tosses the stupid sign out of the way and takes center stage.]

Hey losers, and welcome to the first episode of my vlog. Before we get started there's something you need to do. I need your likes, I need your thumbs up, I need your five stars-

[Each time Jappleack says something she sets up a small wooden stand in front of the scroll that has a small plaque on it. Each plaque has a different mark on it, from a thumbs up to a check mark to a board with five stars on it.

She's bothered to make one for every type of internet-ranking method there is. Some of them don't even make sense, and one she just looks at for a moment, puzzling over it.]

I need your...whatever the hell this thing is seriously the hell is this do I even want this aw screw it.

[And she throws the offending symbol away before placing down two final symbols.]

Aaaaand don't forget to favorite and subscribe.

Okay. So. Three questions.

One: is anypony - and when I say that I mean pony as in a pony before they got here - come from an Equestria that is not a festering hellhole in comparison to this one. I mean if you were human or whatever sure. I'd be glad to hear if your world was a shitshow too but from what I'm getting? Just about everypony from another Equestria came from one that knew war, or was a nuthouse, or just got unlucky and thrown from bad situation to bad situation. So I want to know what those other Equestrias were like and how bad they were, because it can't just be a coincidence that so many of us came from versions that suck, or that so many of us know things we shouldn't or can do things we otherwise couldn't.

There has to be some kind of reason because of that.

Two. This is a longshot but is there a flaming electrical outlet in this place because my laptop is almost drained. Not like the damn thing is doing me any good. The internet's gone so all it's good for is playing Oregon Trail which is garbage but I can't stop playing anyway. I am about to ford this river so damn hard but not if I don't find an outlet and I know everyone wants me to accomplish this.

Third. Who wants to watch my body.

I don't mean that in a gross way. I mean I need others to actively watch my body because I'm going to try and kick my consciousness into the void between space and time that joins worlds. I have no clue if I even can do it here but while I'm doing it? Kinda prefer my body to be watched over and protected from any freak that might otherwise just find me in the open. I already have someone who's going to monitor me like a doctor or some crap, but the more the merrier since I have no clue what in the hell is going to happen when I do this.

But really number two is kind of my main concern. I think I'm about to beat this stupid game.

[Private to Donna]

If you still want to monitor me while I do this stupid crap, name a time and place. I'm ready.

[Sometime after the ponies wake up, scrolls and quills suddenly start raining from the sky. Don't worry, its not the ponypocalypse, its just a squadron of flying white ponies dropping them from above.

Once everyone receives one, the scrolls suddenly glow and come to life, its surface revealing the visage of a large white alicorn with rainbow hair and a golden crown, sitting on a large, velvet-upholstered throne. She has a calm, reassuring, regal smile on her face as she speaks, though those who know her better can see the light of worry and concern in her eyes.]

Good afternoon, newponies! I am Princess Celestia.

I've heard of your arrival in Ponyville and of some of the more interesting stories that have come from it. We're...not certain how this phenomenon has occurred, but we here at the royal castle will put our efforts into solving this mystery, and I hope you will help us out as we wish to help you out!

Rest assured, no harm will come to you. Nor, as some of you have worried, are we holding you against your will. On the contrary, you're free to move about Equestria as you please, be it through Ponyville, Los Pegasus or anywhere in between. I only request that you use the scrolls we have provided you to check in from time to time, so that we know where you might be when we figure out the solution to this current situation.

If you have any questions, you are free to ask them of me. If I am not available - and, I will admit, there are times when I can be quite busy - there are many other ponies willing to help you, including the other princesses of Equestria. We are all in this together, after all.

[And then she smiles a little more. Its a much more relaxed smile. The concern is still there, of course.]

But, in the meantime, I'd also like to get to know all of you! I always like to meet new people, after all. I hear we even have a dragon?